Despite its fresh appeal with Bo Gum with a suave pre- Military haircut and So-Dam’s brilliance as a witty makeup artist, the drama was simply lacklustre . Although the drama did obviously touch upon the problems of relationships ( familial and romantic) as well as career choices for our young protagonists, Record of Youth simply reduced most of the characters to nothing more than plot devices throughout the drama.

On one note of appraisal , Bo- Gum was (,as usual,)brilliant within channeling the soul of his character, Hye-Jun. Playing an “underdog” model and aspiring actor, Park Bo Gum did seem to truly step into fleshing out a character , who was rawly undercooked in depth and characterisation by the scriptwriters through his ability to portray the raw emotion of Hye- Jun throughout the drama.

Sadly, however, the scriptwriters didn’t give any justice towards Bo-Gum’s character, Hye- Jun.

This was defined by one fatal mistake by the scriptwriters’ focus upon Hye- Jun as a plot device in regards to his his relationship with Jeong- Ha, meaning that any characterisation that viewers see throughout the drama for Hye-Jun, is severely underdeveloped by the ending of the show.

The most notable example towards this problem, had to be from his sudden “ anger” to “ apathy” around his father and brother and of course his shared love for his mother and grandfather . Whilst his initial feelings towards his father and brother in the beginning of the show was understandable, it was a strange leap in Hye- Jun character to suddenly go from being incredibly infuriated at times by his father and brother, to simply “ not caring” and remaining “ cool- headed”. This would have been understandable if we’d actually see Hye- Jun progress with the plot, but instead, any emotional capacity he possessed as a character is simply thrown away by the near ending of the show. In particular, this is also portrayed by his attitude to Jeong- Ja and his careless decisions within their relationship.

This of course moves us onto So- Dam as Jeong- Ha, a witty makeup artist with her own dreams to become a beauty influencer. Parallel to Bo-Gun’s acting, So- Dam was brilliant within capturing the comical and heart driven moments of her character and therefore there is no denying that Jeong-Ha seemed to be more developed as a character upon some grounds that Hye- Jun.

This also includes the ability towards viewers actually learning why Jeong- Ha aspired to be a makeup artist from her father, something which we never really learn in depth as to why Hye- Jun wanted to be an actor apart from the fact that “ he wanted to do it for a long time”. Additionally, it was refreshing also to come across a level- headed female lead who isn’t ditsy in a relationship, or starts a screaming match with her enemies, but approaches things in a calm , succinct and realistic manner as an intelligent and reasonable individual .( Such as being professional whilst dealing with a senior makeup artist determined to make her life hell.)

Despite her strengths, sadly Jeong- Ha’s greatest flaws from the scriptwriters probably did also come from making Jeong- Ha sometimes a little too “level- headed” than for her own good. Whilst this did naturally add to the “ drama” of the show, it was just as bad for other reasons that Jeong- Ha did not speak out or communicate with Hye- Jun about her feelings or respected boundaries within their relationship. Her attitude towards encouraging and growing closer to Hye- Jun’s best friend Won Hae-hyo ( Byeon Woo- Seok) , was understandable due to her anger towards Hye- Jun, but it seemed both unfair and unkind (regardless of her excuses )towards leading Hae- Hyo on in such a manner. By the ending of the show, a lot of Jeong- Ha’s strengths were sadly greatly overshadowed by her decisions as a consequence.

Ironically, whilst normally I wouldn’t comment upon the reasons of a second Male for chasing after the female lead in such a cliche manner , Woo Seok’s portrayal of Hae- Hyo as a Male lead who has had everything handed to him on a silver plate by his mother, Kim Yi-young ( Shin Ae- Ra), did add some understanding as to why Jeong- Ha became such a figure of interest for him.

One of the biggest emotional trials which Woo Seok comes to grasp with in the show, is realising simply how overbearing his loving mother truly is within controlling every aspect of his life ( including his career) and his sister’s ( a part of freedom which manifests within his sister dating another one of his best friends).

With the fact that his best friend , Hye- Jun, has had the freedom to chase his own dreams and aspire to do acting on his own part, the aspiration of chasing after his best friend’s girl did add the note of a cliche. On the other hand, this understanding towards why Woo- Seok was intrigued by Jeong- Ha, wasn’t left blank for viewers by the scriptwriters. This was simply because Woo Seok wanted control over a relationship. This of course , did add
some explanation and depth to his decisions, but it was overly cliche and stepped across several boundaries of disrespect for both Hye- Jun as a friend and of course Jeong- Ha within the drama as nothing more than an object for both Hye- Jun and Woo- Seok to use.

Whilst of course the drama did delve into some additional “ youth issues” (including a minor plot line of homosexuality,which was only brushed upon for the plot to advance), the drama really didn’t add enough depth or even covered the universal issues as a youth drama. Although we must bear into respect Korean culture and “ sensitive topics”, it was still too glossed over not to come across a youth drama which tackles issues such as drinking , partying, or even smoking , especially with the younger characters’ ages. This is not to glorify these acts in any manner, but, these are issues which realistically, most youths tackle fairly universally ( especially in Korea). For a drama to not even mildly suggest these youths have never done such an act, seemed more of a commentary upon appeasing younger audiences to “ not do this in real life” , than to learn about the real world for youths.

In addition to that his, there was of course the glossed over image of the fashion and makeup industry as well. Whilst naturally the drama did delve into the problems of “ scandals” for Korean celebrities and of course blackmail, these issues became overly repetitive. This of course is an issue which tackles many celebrities on a daily basis in a Korea, but did we really need to have this screamed at us by Hye- Jun’s manager Lee Min Jae ( Shin Dong Mi) for several episodes without thinking to tell Hye- Jun to be more cautious? Probably, not.

In reality, there was little actually exposed about the severity of other issues in these respected industries ( especially fashion ). It’s understandable that the drama didn’t want to delve into this too much in in order to focus on the relationship of Jeong Ha and Hye Jun, but, there was still a lot of exposed ground which the drama could’ve covered on even briefly. Not least, the actual problems for young models upon eating disorders, smoking , diets and of course especially, for young makeup artists, revenue and exploitation as well. For a drama not to even cover upon the issues in addition to poor characterisation, left Record of Youth as a forgettable and cliche show which did not tread any new ground upon Korean dramas.